Scraping rickety CNG autos goes slow
Scraping and replacing CNG-run auto rickshaws beyond their economic life in Dhaka and Chittagong metropolitan cities is yet to start in full swing.
In the port city scraping of expired CNG autos would start today, officials said while the process was suspended for few days in the capital.
In the meantime, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority sent a request letter to Road Transport and Bridges ministry following request from owners for allowing expired autos to run in these cities before replacement.
Since April this year, 8,465 CNG-run auto rickshaws were set for replacement and scraping as by December 2017 their economic lifespan had expired.
The ministry allowed six months from April to the owners to replace 5,665 autos in the capital and four months in the port city to replace 2,800 autos.
BRTA deputy director (Chittagong metro) Shahidullah Kaiser said the scraping of CNG autos would start in the city today.
The work could not start earlier because of other official works, he claimed.
BRTA director (engineering) Md Nurul Islam said that three days after initiating the scarping of expired CNG in April, the owners filed a writ petition with the High Court against the move.
The court on Monday rejected the writ petition and the scrapping process resumed in the capital on Tuesday, he informed.
In both the cities, daily 50 autos are scheduled to be scraped, officials have said, adding that after scraping, the owners would start replacement process.
Md Nurul Islam also said that on Tuesday they had sent a letter to the ministry to allow the expired autos, before they were scrapped, on the street in these cities on humanitarian ground.
The request initially came from the owners, he added.
The auto rickshaws were introduced in 2001 with five years’ economic life, which was extended initially to nine years, then to 11 years and lastly to 15 years in 2013.
At present, there are 15,696 CNG-run auto rickshaws in Dhaka and 13,000 in Chittagong.
News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net
